Sweet Reality
by Rensarou
Summary: Shinjiro finally remembers about her, but it's graduation day... the day Minako is to give her soul as the seal... As she closes her eyes and breathes her final breath, a sudden appearance from a fogotten character changes everything. One-shot, my twist of the ending.


He couldn't believe he had forgotten about her.

How? How was it even possible?

As his footsteps pounded on the cement sidewalk, as his breath came in ragged gasps, he only had one thought in his mind.

_ I have to see her._

Rounding the turn and entering the grounds of Gekkoukan High, he ignored the stares of all the students as he headed straight for the school, straight for the roof. He remembered the meeting place she had told him when he was in his coma. He remembered every one of her visits his consciousness had been so kind to be there for. Even if he had been unable to move his body, he was still able to have some form of alertness, and strangely, everything during that time except the visits from her were muffled, hazy, as if looking through a foggy window. The rest of the time, when his awareness did slip, his mind was filled with thoughts of her.

"_We decided to make the roof our meeting place, after all of this is over," _he remembered her saying quietly, her voice straining to keep a bit of happiness laced within it. _"That's right. We know we'll make it through. There can't be any doubt, because once there is, that's it. We're done."_

She had grown so much during the time he was comatose. The uncertain, but capable, leader he had known during the month they were together had changed and molded into a girl that was determined and knew exactly what she wanted to do, and how to look after everyone else while she was at it. He had truly underestimated her. But yet, her innocent side had become more cracked, more darkened, and it was those times in the hospital where she held his hand tightly and sobbed into his bed sheets that he wished more than anything that he could move his damned body and hold her, to tell her she wasn't alone.

During those months of his hospitalization, she visited him frequently, and apologized every time tears sprung to her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.

_"You told me to not cry,"_ she would sniff, rubbing her sleeve across her eyes, _"and I've tried to keep to that… So I'm sorry for crying now…"_

Oh, how he wanted to just sit up, take her in his arms, and tell her it was okay.

He'd never felt so helpless before, especially when she visited him that last time, saying that they had finally reached the top of the tower, and that they were going to face Nyx the next night.

"_It's finally time. I wish you could be here… but I can't give up. I have to see it through. Not just for everyone else, but for you as well. It's still your fight, even if you can't physically be here."_

Then, what scared him the most, was when she brushed her lips against his cheek and whispered in his ear, "_Don't forget about me."_

Something about the way she had said it had made his heart leap, even in the state he was in. Her voice was laced with… what was it? Sadness? Acceptance?

Then, the night of the fated battle, things changed. He couldn't remember exactly why he was in the hospital. He knew he was shot, and he knew of the reasons, but he couldn't understand why it didn't seem right, like it was a lie.

Not long after he had finally managed to open his eyes, to lift his aching, stiff body from the white bed. Holding his head between his hands and blinking his eyes clear, his first initial look around the hospital room had ended in his eyes falling on a girl behind his room's window. A brown haired girl, in the black Gekkoukan High outfit, looking at him with eyes overflowing with surprise. And as his eyes rested on hers, her lips parted in a smile as she hurriedly disappeared, a nurse appearing in his room a minute later.

He couldn't help but wonder who that girl was. No memories he had showed her, yet his heart had felt a pang when he saw her. It got him confused, and his eyes, without his consent, would keep straying to the window, even though she never once appeared again.

Then one day, as suddenly as if being shot all over again, he remembered. He remembered everything, remembered her smile, her laugh, her tears…

That resulted in him hurriedly getting dressed, slipping on his shoes, grabbing his jacket, and running out of the hospital like hell itself was after him.

Finally reaching the roof, he pushed open the metal door and stood there, panting, his eyes roaming the area. His brown orbs finally settled on her figure, which had turned around in surprise at his noisy entrance. Her red-brown eyes blinked into his brown ones in surprise, then they slanted as her smile lit up her expression, radiating the aura he had fallen so much in love with.

"Minako…" he couldn't help but utter between gasps, his mind momentarily frozen at the fact of finally being with her again.

"Shinjiro-senpai…" she says, her eyes already glossing up with tears.

Smiling gently, he says, "Don't make a sick guy push himself so hard…" Without missing a beat, he finds himself spilling everything. "It's pretty pathetic of me to forget the way I did… But even then, my feelings for you were the same as always." The memory of the emotion he felt when his eyes locked with hers at his awakening was still fresh in mind, and ever since remembering, he knew what that once confusing feeling was. He chuckles slightly. "I have one thick skull, huh?"

Minako, meanwhile, was slowly making her way towards him, putting one slow step in front of the other. She couldn't believe it. He had remembered. He was alive. There was no need for him to say anything. She understood.

"The girl I saw in my dreams…" Shinji continues, his breath finally coming more normal. "It was you…"

The tears now threaten to fall for her as everything she had to keep bottled up during his sick days started to overflow, throwing her heart down a hill to tumble. The words he was saying was just going to make the inevitable goodbye even worse…

"You were crying and laughing like usual…" He can't help but chuckle at the memories, all the memories they had made together during that month they were together.

Then suddenly, he can't hold it in anymore. Closing the empty space between them, he takes Minako in his arms, holding her close. The way he had wanted to for all of those comatose months… Her arms being wrapped around him just made him hold her even closer. Finally, she was back where she belonged. In his arms.

She could feel his lips part to form words through her hair, his quiet breath tickling the hairs of her neck. "Yeah… this ain't a dream… You're really here…"

Her eyes finally explode, sending those tears down her cheeks and making her bury her face in the crook of his neck. He was here. He was finally here, with his arms wrapped around her. She hadn't ever heard Shinji's voice like this, full of… what was it? Even if she couldn't put a word to it, she understood.

Faint echoes of the others reached their ears, making Shinji chuckle as he loosened his grip around her, although his arms stays wrapped around her waist, his eyes gazing into hers. "Man, those guys sure know how to ruin a moment."

Giggling as heartily as she can, Minako can feel herself getting sleepy again. Her eyelids threaten to close, yet she shakes her head and rubs her eyes. Just a few more minutes. Just a few more minutes to enjoy being with Shinjiro again…

"Sleepy?" he asks, smiling gently at her as he guides her to the closest bench and sits down, tugging her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her gently.

"A little bit," she replies, noting how even her voice has become a little slurred.

"It's alright to take a little nap. You've been through a lot," he replies. "And who cares about the others. I'll tell them to keep quiet."

She can't help but smile, but even that has become a chore. "Shinjiro-senpai?"

"Yes?" he asks, resting his chin on top of her head.

"Don't forget… that I'll always love you…"

Her eyes finally drift closed, her lips set into a permanent smile as her final breath is drawn in and released. The last thing she hears is Shinjiro, his calm, gentle, yet slightly rough voice saying,

"I'm glad I met you."

Opening her eyes, a white ceiling greets her fuzzy sight. Blinking a few times as her eyes adjust, she groggily feels her hand being squeezed, and out of reflex, she squeezes back.

"Minako?"

That voice… She's instantly thrown into a state of alertness as her head snaps in his direction. But how…? Wasn't she suppose to be extended above the door, as the seal…?

"S-Senpai…?" she hesitantly replies, bringing an arm under her to lift herself into a sitting position. Yet her arm threatens to give, and she's helped up with a sturdy hand of Shinjiro's placed firmly on her back.

"Careful now. You don't want to strain yourself too much."

"W-where… am I…?" she asks, looking around and waiting for her mind to register the hospital room.

"In the hospital. You ended up succumbing to extreme exhaustion, as the doctors say," replies Shinjiro calmly, his hand still placed on her back reassuringly. "You sure made all of us worry when you didn't wake up."

"But… how… I'm suppose to be-"

Then it all comes rushing back to her.

When she had opened her eyes, she hadn't been in the living realm anymore, as she had expected. Yet, she hadn't been where she expected to be either. Nor had she been alone.

A blue haired guy had been there with her, watching her levelly with calm, blue eyes.

_"Where are we?"_ she had inquired, her eyes roaming the darkness unsuccessfully for any sign of light.

_"I'm not sure,"_ was his simple reply.

_"Who… are you?"_

_ "Your counterpart."_

_ "What?"_

And so he had tried to explain. In the same world, but also not hers, he had been the one to transfer to Gekkoukan High, not her. He was the one to become the leader of SEES, and he was the one to experience all of the events within the year. In his world, she didn't exist.

_"So, you also…" _she had mumbled, not quite ready to speak the truth.

He understood, though, and nodded. _"I also made the pact."_

_ "Then… what…?"_

_ "I'll be the one taking up the role as the seal. Not you."_

_ "What? Why?" _The shock of hearing those words left her breathless, made her mind reel. How was that possible? She was the one that decided to become the seal for humanity… to give up everything to save her friends…

_"Don't bother with the why. Just go back, and live your life."_

She felt bad, she truly did, yet… the prospect of seeing everyone again filled her with happiness, with longing. So, without asking if he was sure, she made sure to give her best smile, tears filling her eyes, and said a simple, _"Thank you."_

And so she had been cast back into the world of the living, thrown back into her bedridden body. Her mind picked up dreams, simulations, until eventually coming back into reality, where Shinjiro was holding her hand and watching her sleeping face.

"Suppose to be…?" comes Shinjiro, bringing her out of her thoughts, his eyes filled with curiosity and worry.

She shakes her head, pushing the thoughts from her mind and looking at Shinjiro with a smile. "Nothing. Just getting reality confused with a dream, is all."

He chuckles. "I see. Well, Minako, welcome back to reality."

Squeezing his hand, she takes a deep breath, a breath she was never suppose to take, and lets it out happily. "It's great to be back."


End file.
